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Show Company for allowing massive radioactive contamination to occur that had led to inordinate rates of cancer in the tiny town. Of the close to 2,000 residents, 351 had fallen victim to cancer. Children were being born with sickness and birth defects. These facilities made fuel for nuclear subs. Even more recently, a report from the National Cancer Institute indicated that breast cancer rates had increased 72% in the 1990s in Marin County California. Such an increase is unprecedented. Among other causes, the report blames the presences of nuclear submarines in the San Francisco Bay. My dad continued to struggle-though he was tiring-reeling and releasing, reeling and releasing. Each time the marlin broke the surface, arcing in the air and cutting back into the water, my dad stopped. In fact, each time the marlin burst forth, erupting like a submarine in an emergency blow, we all stopped. Such magnificence. Like a ballet dancer holding the air, the earth's forces seemed to have no effect on his body. What the marlin was really doing, I soon realized, was fighting. The shimmering colors and the giant sail we really only saw when my dad reeled him close to the boat. Iridescent sides, rippling flashes of blues, greens, and reds. His long, straight nose in proportion to his six foot body; the sail, running the length of his spine, flapped up and down as he died. The pale pink of his belly stood in stark contrast to the oil black of his back. For a moment I considered the fact that he could be a she. By the time we (and it takes all of us) pulled him onto the deck, his colors had already begun to fade. Spasms. Salt water and blood spilling over the sides. He barely 177 |